Though wearing a mask, Max’s expression looked quite serious.
“Can you think about it after seeing me participate today?”
“I’ll cheer for you.”
No matter what happens, my thoughts will never change.
The main reason is that the prize money for winning is too low.
To pay off all my debts, I need to win at least 50 times.
During the entrance exam, Max faced Jema while giving him some leeway.
If Max couldn’t win in the underground arena with his true abilities, then the participants’ skills couldn’t even be compared to mine.
The underground arena. Max’s alias is the Yellow Lion.
His opponent was a steel nobleman wearing chain mail and a flipped helmet.
Both used swords, but the weapon the steel nobleman wielded was twice the size of a normal sword.
Max’s sword aimed deep into the opponent’s side.
Clang~
Only the sound of thin metal echoed quietly in the arena.
The steel nobleman, feeling his side and pleased that his armor had blocked the attack, smiled.
No matter how sharpened the blade is, cutting through steel is something ordinary skills can’t achieve.
“Blade of Death!”
The steel nobleman shouted as he raised his sword and began to spin in place.
Centrifugal force created a barrier of his sword around him.
The moment I understood why his sword was larger and thicker than usual.
It was solely for the purpose of using this one technique.
It may seem simple, but the balance between offense and defense is quite well established.
Max, cornered, appeared to be in a very dangerous situation.
In an instant, Max jumped from the corner.
As the spinning sword of his opponent got stuck in the arena’s wall, he desperately tried to pull it out.
At that moment, Max’s sword pointed at his neck, and the match ended amusingly.
The underground arena did not follow a tournament format.
Participating players could choose to compete in any match they wished.
Even if they lost the previous match, as long as a next match was scheduled, they could still participate.
Since there were no specific regulations against it, one could lose 100 times for 100 entries without issue.
However, if you keep losing, you won’t even receive a small participation fee, so naturally, you would have to quit.
Despite that, I heard that the steel nobleman is a regular participant.
He is even nicknamed the rookie skill measurer.
Returning to the waiting room after finishing the match, Max looked at me.
“How was it?”
“It looked dangerous.”
“That person is at the beginner level according to the academy’s standards.”
I thought it was a pretty good offensive and defensive style, but it seemed Max didn’t agree.
“There’s a gap at the top and bottom. Everyone else knows too, but they purposely avoid aiming there.”
“Why?”
“His techniques have a very low hit rate for attacks. If you just lead him to a corner like I did, he’ll self-destruct.”
When a weakness is discovered in battle, it results in immediate death in real-world situations.
Therefore, most try to compensate for this through practice and sparring.
But this is the underground arena; everyone avoids intentionally revealing their weaknesses to that steel nobleman to win.
An opponent who self-destructs on their own is merely a good source of income.
I felt a bit sorry for the steel nobleman, but if he kept losing, he could just stop participating.
Max and I left the underground arena and headed back to the surface.
“Are you really not going to give it a try?”
“No. And the prize money is lower than I thought.”
“What? 100 gold is too little?”
“I have circumstances that require a large amount of money.”
Hearing about my situation, Max made a sympathetic face.
Of course, it’s not like I have no way to repay.
If I help Aila with her work, I can earn enough to get by.
After arriving near the academy, I parted ways with Max.
He must not be living in the dormitory since our paths diverged.
I learned one more thing about the underground arena.
Aside from prize money, there’s another way to profit in the arena.
It’s akin to gambling, betting on who will win the match.
Players could also bet money on themselves and others.
Of course, if they collude, they could create a fantastic fraud scheme.
On the way back, when Max mentioned this, his eyes sparkled a little.
However, it seems he wasn’t planning to participate yet since his odds weren’t high.
Max mentioned that there are constant temptations in the underground arena and that if you need money, he could help.
If such actions are caught, the gambler would lose credibility among the audience and no one would want to place bets.
In the end, they’d end up like the steel nobleman.
Currently, the steel nobleman’s betting odds are about 20 times if someone bets on him to win.
His record stands at 1 win and 105 losses.
Even in defeat, he doesn’t lose his life or incur permanent injuries, which is what allows him to maintain such records.
He’s a player not worth betting on.
When a player wins, they take home no prize aside from the money, but those who placed bets could potentially earn more than the prize money.
The legendary payout for the best matches in history is said to be 1000 gold.
Currently, matches that exceed 200 gold are extremely rare.
I wondered if the underground arena’s economy truly runs smoothly.
Lost in various thoughts, I found myself arriving in front of the dormitory before I knew it.
“You’re late?”
“Yes. I was talking to someone.”
Minwoo pressed the button inside the security office to open the entrance door for me.
“Um, what if someone breaks into this dormitory? How would you deal with it?”
“Who would break in here? Only someone wanting to die would do that.”
Though they are students of the academy, ages vary widely.
Among them are those like Dahlia, who sometimes come back after working outside.
If they are students from the introductory level, the situation is a bit different, but even at the beginner level, they can at least protect themselves.
“And I’m here too, safeguarding.”
“That’s true.”
Though I had never seen Minwoo’s skills, he likely wasn’t completely incompetent.
The headmaster isn’t the type to appoint someone who is entirely useless as security.
I returned to my room and sat on the edge of my bed instead of lying down.
This weekend, I would need to step out of this room for a moment.
I could now use magic to some extent, but I hadn’t used it in an actual scenario yet.
After class tomorrow, I’ll have to visit the headmaster to find out how to increase the purity of my mana.
Morning broke on the third day.
In a daze, I finished preparing for the academy and left my room.
The hallway was quiet, possibly because everyone else had already gone to the academy.
It wasn’t late, but I hurriedly headed toward the academy.
Upon arriving on the fourth floor, students were already preparing for class.
Today, the number of students learning magic was so few that it was almost countable on fingers.
“Looks like everyone is over there today.”
“Magic doesn’t grow as quickly as one might think.”
Max, who had come over, sat beside me and started talking.
“Isn’t magic easier for demons?”
“Magic used in daily life is.”
I thought the level of magic taught in the beginner courses wasn’t particularly high.
It’s the stage of developing the ability to control mana.
Most students find this process far more tedious than swinging weapons all day.
“Later on, there will be kids who regret it like me. Just thinking back, they could have started earlier.”
I could feel several students learning weapons directing their gazes toward Max at his words.
Max smiled at them and gave a light wave.
Teacher Adelia gathered the students to start the class.
She quickly counted the number of students with her eyes but seemed not to worry too much about it.
“Today, we will deepen the heart techniques you have learned.”
Adelia arranged chairs for the students according to their numbers, and everyone took their seats.
“Everyone, please take your seats. And keep repeating the heart techniques you have learned.”
Since I didn’t have any heart techniques, Teacher Adelia simply passed by me.
She explained a more stable way to control mana to Max beside me.
As Teacher Adelia observed every student, she finally fixed her eyes on me.
There was a bluish energy reflecting in her eyes.
I felt slightly monitored, but I focused on mana control, not caring.
Two beats. Two beats.
The heart squeezes and sends mana throughout my body, then returns.
I gather it back to the heart, then repeat.
While it was a tough and exhausting time for other students, it felt like a peaceful moment of rest for me.
At one point, I dozed off, and I wondered if Teacher Adelia noticed as she occasionally tapped my shoulder lightly with her hand.
“Ririan, please stay for a moment.”
After finishing the class, it was just Teacher Adelia and me again.
“I heard from the headmaster that Ririan is a bit special.”
“Special?”
“There are rare instances where students can use magic and control mana without heart techniques.”
It seems the headmaster persuaded Teacher Adelia under a different pretext to conceal my identity.
“I’ve been observing you during today’s class. The headmaster was right.”
“What does it mean to be special?”
“Your body is optimized for learning magic.”
Senchie.
Being born with a physique that is well-suited for using magic.
Those with this physique can control mana and cast spells without any special heart techniques.
“Judging by your expression, it seems you weren’t aware of this, Ririan.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’ve never taught a student with a senchie physique.”
A very rare physique even among the demon race, it’s something that appears once every few hundred years.
Adelia went on to explain in more detail about the senchie physique.
Listening in, I suddenly thought of someone who fits that description.
The Demon King.
He possesses the talent to easily cast magic without the need for heart techniques.
I hesitated whether to voice the thought that was rising to the tip of my tongue.
“The most famous person with such a physique today is the Demon King.”
“Have you met the Demon King?”
“No, but I would like to meet him at least once. He must be truly magnificent.”
Aila once mentioned that even while working in the imperial court, it was rare to meet the Demon King.
An average common citizen would never encounter the Demon King in their lifetime.
Moreover, since he often behaves like an ordinary child, it’s even harder to recognize him unless he reveals it himself.
